2.16.2012

: Working it :: School Style :

I don't know about you other Mama's out there, but sometimes school mornings are HECTIC!

We've got homework that needs to be taken back to school plus the other random items that are required for the day {insert 100 day}, then the lunch kit with the well rounded meal and a good snack.

Let alone a full {half decent} dressed self and children, teeth brushed, breakfast eaten, bed made, hair done...the list seems never ending!

And that's only with one child going to school full time!!! Honestly I don't know how you Mama's with more than 2 kids do it?!?!?

Last year I was driving back and forth from preschool 5x's per week but school didn't start until 9 am so from 7 am - 8.45 am we could make it out the door as a loving family...this year feels like a different thing! It's been a HUGE learning curve and I hate leaving a disheveled home to return to so something had to change!

Jacob needs to be dropped off between 8.20 & 8.30 am -- some mornings we try to walk which means we're all out of the house by 8.10 am but as I need to get Cole to school for 9 am 3x a week we often end up driving, which means we're out of the house at 8.15 am.

Some mornings a week Mr. L is home but there is not really any help coming from him, sometimes it's more of a pain cause he get's in the way of our groove and then we all end up frustrated!

So in my need to get more of a grip on what is happening in our home {in the pm & am} I've made some changes and I can't believe how much of a difference they have made in our routine!

Here's the after school/evening routine that we have going:
Backpack is unpacked at kitchen table, notices&homework is left on the little desk in the kitchen.
lunch kit is emptied and put in cupboard {kids cupboard}
Backpack is hung on the hook in the laundry room
Homework is completed during snack time
Lunch for next day prepared

Now to the evening routine, when we're tucking the boys in bed I will be laying out their new clothes for the next day on the end of their beds.
I used to have them downstairs waiting for them but then it was on my plate to get them dressed. This way they get themselves dressed when they wake up. They know what to where and there is no arguing {even boys can be VERY picky with what they wear}. It has easily given me back 15 minutes of my morning routine!

The morning routine is the same every school day:
Get up
Make bed {Jacob helps Cole}
Get dressed
Get breakfast {Jacob can do this for both of them if I leave a bowl out or leave a muffin in a ziplock bag on their plate}
These are our favorite {healthy&easy} breakfast muffins ~ recipe to come..
Brush teeth, comb hair, wash face w/ wet wipe {all in the powder room on the main floor, if they end up going upstairs, they get sucked into the toy room...NO GOOD!}I get the lunches/snacks together and place their bags at the foot of the stairs, if they forget their bag - tough beans! They know it's their responsibility and they have to take it to school {obviously if I see it still hanging there I will remind them}.

As for my routine, I don't get out of bed until I've already thought up what I'm going to wear...I find nothing more frustrating then going into the black hole that is our closet and humming&hawing over what to wear. So while I'm listening to the news on the radio and checking my email messages on my phone {this drives Mr. L nuts!} I also think up my outfit, most days it's nothing special but it's clean and so am I ;)

I usually eat a shake for breakfast and try to eat it while I'm getting ready, but some mornings {like Wednesday's} I'm heading out the door with it in hand, such is life!

All this organization helps me {& them} out SO much...it keeps the peace when getting out the door with 2 other littles {hats off to all the other women who do this with more kids and don't look like Cruella Deville!}

I would love to know your morning routine and what keeps your family ticking and running on love not frustration -- I'm sure I've got much to learn!

{XoXo}


6 comments:

Crystal said...

oh, I have so much to look forward to:)

Anonymous said...

LOVE THIS SHAWNA~! We have such similar blogs today!! LOVE IT.
I also have clothes layed out the night before and my clothes layed out as well.
I also unload the dishwasher in the am as I HATE coming back to doing it during the crazy LUNCH rush.
I also set out bowls for Sophie to help with breakfast in the am..such a help. Just one extra less thing to do ;)

Have a fab day

Rachel said...

Lunches made the night before.
I get up one hour before my boys and get 100% ready (including breakfast eaten) before I even see their faces!
Seems to work for us.

Shawna said...

Good tips ladies!

Ah Rachel, if I got up an hour before my kids I would be up at 5 am...that ain't gonna happen anytime soon :P

Keri's Collage... said...

Lunches the night before.
Curts clothes out the night before. The girls share a bathroom so we preset who gets to use it first and the other is required to make her bed and eat breakfast while she waits. A good day starts with good organization in my house. If anyone is 'off' we all have a rough day!

Laura said...

Your morning/evening routine is SO similar to mine... clothes all laid out, four pairs of shoes lined up in age order, four jackets too... lunches I prepare as much as possible the night before (but I can't stand a soggy sandwich so I do those in the morning if they are on the menu)... I also made a lunch/snack menu for three weeks at a time and I just rotate it all year. Thankfully the more kids you have, the easier it is for the older ones to help the littles and that helps me out a lot... all beds are made and house tidied before I walk out the door. And after school, it's backpacks away, lunch bags unpacked, notices/papers put into their cubbies and homework and piano practice done asap so we can enjoy family time after supper. Oh, and it's the same around here when Brad has a random morning at home... throws us all off (I think because I expect him to do more than he actually does:)) and we all end up frustrated.

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